Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
On Dec. 2, Temple University and the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights announced that they have begun an agreement that will resolve an investigation started by the department in regards to potential civil rights violations on campus. The investigation found that Temple has done a good job of addressing individual incidents of hate on campus, but has not done an adequate job of ensuring that its approach was cohesive or comprehensive enough.
“The university’s actions did not consistently include taking steps to assess whether incidents of which it had notice individually or cumulatively created a hostile environment for students, faculty, or staff and did not take steps reasonably calculated to end the hostile environment as required by Title VI,” according to the department’s statement on the findings, published in a news release.
In the last two academic years, the North Philadelphia school received at least 50 reports of discrimination and harassment against Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian students. The Department of Education alleged that these reports were worthy of investigation as potential violations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance,” according to the federal government.
According to a statement from the Office of Civil Rights, the investigation found that Temple has been “consistently proactive” in its responses to hate on an incident-by-incident basis.
However, those responses were of concern because “they were addressed in isolation by multiple campus departments and offices with little to no information sharing among them. This in turn resulted in an apparent failure to assess whether the incidents cumulatively created a hostile environment for university students, faculty, and staff.”
“OCR’s investigation found that the university has consistently taken proactive and responsive steps to address instances of harassment based on shared ancestry that affected the university community and to support an inclusive and nondiscriminatory campus environment,” according to a news release from last week. “In many instances when reports were made, the university took steps to offer the reporting party supportive measures, and university leadership issued statements to the university community reaffirming its commitment to free speech, as well as to maintaining a campus that is free from harassment and discrimination.”
The terms of the agreement will see Temple increase actions related to mitigating issues of discrimination on campus. Temple President John Fry said that, while concerns that were raised were valid, “the concerns do not rise to the level of findings.” He added in a written statement that the University will certainly continue to combat all forms of hate — particularly antisemitism.
“As part of the agreement, Temple has reiterated its commitment to combating discrimination and harassment. To that end the university has already taken steps to clarify and widely publish guidance for demonstrations, host a teach-in on antisemitism, and continue to draw guidance from its Blue Ribbon Commission on Antisemitism and University Responses,” he said.
Fry added that the school is working with organizations beyond its own walls to improve these inter-campus relations, too.
“The recommendations of the commission ultimately led to the creation of the Interfaith Inclusion Center, the appointment of a special advisor on antisemitism, the expansion of our universitywide DEI collaborative and strong partnerships with Jewish community leaders throughout Philadelphia … additional training for our investigators and students, faculty and staff; a climate survey, and continued internal review of incident responses and an annual report to OCR for the next two academic years,” he said in the statement.
Similar investigations are currently underway at more than 100 institutions of higher learning across the country, Fry said. How those other schools will fare is unknown, but Temple’s review was overall a positive one. United States Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in the news release from last week that the department and Temple will both be better off for the work that is coming.
“Today’s resolution with Temple University is designed to improve university practices to ensure full compliance with federal civil rights protections against discrimination,” she said. “OCR looks forward to working with Temple throughout its implementation of the resolution agreement to ensure Temple students, faculty and staff are able to learn and work in an environment free from harassment and discrimination.”
The last two school years have been tumultuous, especially for Jewish students in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, ensuing war and campus protests that followed.
The conduct reported included incidents at on-campus protests, vandalism and graffiti, and posts on social media. For example, the university received reports that a Jewish professor experienced harassment based on his shared ancestry, that an Israeli student’s art was vandalized because she is Israeli, and that a university professor called Muslim students “terrorists.”
Fry was clear as to where Temple stands.
“The Temple community stands for inclusivity, not division. We stand for diversity and dialogue,” he said.
